CITIZENS OF ALL CREEDS UNITE FOR VIGIL

SPECIAL TO THE THOUSAND OAKS ACORN

CITIZENS OF ALL CREEDS UNITE FOR VIGIL

This Tuesday, the Conejo Interfaith Association held a community wide vigil with no specific faith being, rather a community acknowledging recent events within our nation as a method to enrich discussion.

This assembly of people met on the corner of Hillcrest Drive and Lynn Road on a patch of grass across from the Oaks shopping center as a response the loss of human life in the past weeks Namely the murders of 5 police officers in Dallas, Texas and two black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana have sparked a fire within the hearts of those within the Conejo Interfaith Association.

“I realized as a community, we needed to come together,” says Rabbi Andrew Straus “Even though none of these events happened in Thousand Oaks, we as a faith community need to come together to respond and support each other and respond.”

One of the main objectives of this gathering is help disintegrate barriers between people of Thousand Oaks and abroad. The other is to help build bridges between those who are not in-tune with how their neighbor, so to speak, is feeling.

According to Rabbi Straus, what he saw was a marked lack of dialogue between those of differing houses of faith. This absence of conversation about difficult topics was especially disturbing to Reverend Gifford “Giff” Smith because of the sheer number of congregations within the Conejo Interfaith Association.

“The Association is made of 25 or so congregations,” says Reverend Gifford, “Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, the Islamic Center so we all have a connection with each other so we thought that what a perfect way to keep the dialogue and discussion going.”

This was a gathering free of any creed dominating the conversation and as such there were sermons, singing, and prayer from all those represented and a welcoming tone for all those speaking through the paper megaphone.

Standing around the speakers were those holding signs displaying words of peace to the delight and encouragement of cars driving by, showing their support by honking their horns and flashing their high-beams.

Also in attendance, besides the leaders of their faith communities were the members of those congregations. 17 year residents of Thousand Oaks, Joyce and Bill Knell felt they were inclined to be there in support of their fellow citizens.

“In times like these days, we find very little faith within the world.” says Joyce Knell. “We go to our temple and there we found understanding and support from those who share our belief. We found that here too which is a beautiful contrast in what has happened in the past year.”

So where does this lead the conversation? This is not only the conversation between leaders and their flock but within the flock as well. This is actually a goal for the Conejo Interfaith Association in the coming months to strengthen this and offer more opportunities for people to talk to one another.

Events like this are always a welcome improvement to the current state of affairs, according to Rabbi Straus but what needs to happen after this is the continuing of discussion of subjects like what happened this month.

“A quote that I believe Martin Luther King Jr. said was ’11 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon might be the most segregated time in America’ and I feel is especially true today,” said Rabbi Straus “I say we breakdown that segregation. We might be saying the same thing in our churches and our synagogues, but we’re not saying it with each other.”

Vigils like these are always possible through faith programs in Thousand Oaks, they are continually organized with solidarity for those afflicted. This vigil was held to breakdown barriers and free people of their animosities and for the number that gathered; at least a few barriers were taken away.